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That is so very kind, Steve - thank you!

I have very little (meaning: no) influence on the functionality of the platform - but I’ll share the feedback (as I agree with your point).

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My default assumption is that the Trumpist coalition will keep radicalizing, as every crisis, every defeat only heightens their sense of being under siege. There’s always permission to escalate, hardly ever to pull back.

Today’s Right is constantly longing to escalate.

There are few people left whose brains haven’t been poisoned by engaging with the world entirely through the prism of the rightwing media machine; who are still seeking and computing empirical information even if it contradicts the bizarre contortions of the MAGA ideological bubble.

What comes next? If this were a normal administration, faced with mass protest and a devastating electoral defeat, they would change course immediately.
 
Yet this is not a “normal” administration, but a government in the hands of a radicalizing authoritarian movement.

That is also the context in which we need to understand the trend among Trump officials to retreat from civilian homes and move onto military bases. These are not public officials serving the American people – they are at war with American society as it actually exists.

The Pentagon ordered the National Guard to form “quick reaction forces.” It is all part of the broader attempts to build a (para)military force that is directly loyal to Trump and solely tasked with serving as the armed instrument of the regime in its war against the “enemy within.”

ICE leadership in several field offices around the country was replaced by Border Patrol personnel. We often use “ICE” as a shorthand for the masked agents of the state terrorizing American cities. But Border Patrol is actually even worse than ICE. This is bad.

A reminder that this second Trump presidency started with the president pardoning the January 6 mob of insurrectionists and violent vigilantes. It was the perverse apotheosis Trumpism as a political project, right on Day 1 – and such a clear announcement of what this regime was all about.

Also in the past two weeks: The DoJ placed two lawyers on leave who had the audacity to go after a pardoned January 6 rioter who had brought guns and ammo to Obama’s house - a signal to Trump’s most militant, violent base: Do your terroristic thing, we got your back.

The Insurrection Act is not some magic bullet the Trumpists can use to vanquish all opposition. But it is a dangerous instrument. Will they really go that far? I find it hard to envision a scenario in which they would let go of power without at least trying.

In the summer of 2020, Trump wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress the George Floyd protests. But he was talked out of it by lawyers in and around the White House. The Trumpists have described this as a missed opportunity, as one of their biggest regrets.

The pseudo-legal justification for a third term wouldn’t be enough – the Trumpists understand they need a more comprehensive approach. They will escalate the attack on elections. They are guaranteed to do what they can to make elections less free and less fair.

Expect the same playbook as with the assault on birthright citizenship: Throw out something that is blatantly unconstitutional and let a bunch of rightwing activists and legal scholars create the illusion of a “debate” around it that can serve as pretext for the Supreme Court to let Trump win.

Bannon’s argument for why a third Trump term is supposedly needed and justified is deranged, but useful as a window into the mindset and ideas on which the Trumpists build their claim to unfettered power: Trump as an instrument of divine will – and the embodiment of the will of the people.

There has been a lot of talk lately about a third term for Trump. I do not believe the Right has a masterplan to get there, despite what Steve Bannon self-aggrandizing claims. But they are certainly serious about wanting to replace the Republic with Trumpian autocracy.

That is extremely kind - thank you! 🙏